ALMEIDA vs MORALES
Showing no ill effects from the first loss of his career against Cody Garbrandt, bantamweight knockout artist Thomas Almeida picked up where he left off before that May bout, thrilling the fans at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in his hometown of Sao Paulo with a second round stoppage of Albert Morales.
Fighting in the Octagon for just the second time, Morales wasn’t intimidated in the slightest by Almeida’s reputation, and he swung freely throughout the opening round. But with 1:30 left, Almeida tagged the Californian with a right hand and hurt him, prompting Morales to take the fight to the mat. That allowed him to clear his head, and when the two rose, they proceeded to throw bombs at each other until the end of the round.
In the second, Almeida still had a full gas tank while that of the courageous Morales was starting to run on empty. That meant Almeida had the time to pick his power shots, and he quickly hurt his opponent. After a few more blows, referee Eduardo Herdy should have halted the bout, but he instead let Morales take an extended series of punches before finally stepping in at the 1:37 mark.
The No. 11-ranked Almeida improves to 22-1 with the win; Reseda’s Morales falls to 6-1-1.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk in July, Claudia Gadelha cemented her place as the No. 1 strawweight contender in the world with a solid, but unspectacular, three round unanimous decision victory over Cortney Casey.
All three judges saw it 30-27.
Gadelha put together a solid first round effort, nullifying Casey’s offensive attempts while scoring well on the feet and scoring a thudding takedown midway through the round that allowed her to do some ground work. Casey was far from out of the fight though, and she kept pressing throughout the first round and into the second. But every offensive charge was met with a more effective counter by Gadelha, whose physical strength was a major hurdle for Casey to overcome.
In the third, Gadelha continued to control the bout, but an illegal kick to the head of a downed Casey in the second minute put an abrupt halt to the proceedings, with Casey clearly hurt by the blow. After a brief break and no point deduction, the action resumed and the two began slugging it out, with Gadelha breaking things up with another takedown. Once standing, it was Gadelha playing the aggressor, landing some punches before another trip to the canvas, where the bout remained until the final horn.
With the win, Rio de Janeiro’s Gadelha ups her record to 14-2; Maui’s Casey falls to 6-4.
